Data-driven Nonlinear Hebbian Learning method for Fuzzy Cognitive Maps

Fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs) are a convenient tool for modeling of dynamic systems by means of concepts connected by cause-effect relationships. The FCM models can be developed either manually (by the experts) or using an automated learning method (from data). Some of the methods from the latter group, including recently proposed Nonlinear Hebbian Learning (NHL) algorithm, use Hebbian law and a set of conditions imposed on output concepts. In this paper, we propose a novel approach named data-driven NHL (DD-NHL) that extends NHL method by using historical data of the input concepts to provide improved quality of the learned FCMs. DD-NHL is tested on both synthetic and real-life data, and the experiments show that if historical data are available, then the proposed method produces better FCM models when compared with those formed by the generic NHL method.